All-You-Can-Eat Drake
Drake Baldwin (ATL): 1-5, HR, 2 R, RBI.
Spoiler alert, the Braves didn’t win yesterday. However, it was through no fault of their rookie catcher. In the fourth, Drake Baldwin stifled a D’Backs rally by tossing out Tim Tawa trying to steal second. On Tuesday night, he gunned down a more well-known thief, that being Corbin Caroll. Yes, I’d say he’s got a pretty good arm.
And the rookie can rake, too. He proved that again yesterday afternoon, going back-to-back with Ronald Acuña Jr. in the sixth, the home runs coming at the expense of left-hander Tommy Henry. So, yes, it seems that Baldwin might be able to handle lefties, even though he hasn’t gotten too many opportunities while stuck in a platoon of sorts with Sean Murphy.
On Tuesday night, he earned the NL Rookie of the Month Award. Through 125 plate appearances, Baldwin is hitting .310 with seven dingers, and a .384 wOBA, the latter of which would be good for 19th among all batters and third among catchers if he qualified. He’s exhibited power to all fields while rocking a 14.2% strikeout rate. He’s just a resounding talent. However, the timeshare remains a fly in the ointment, and as much as I’d like to dismiss Sean Murphy’s existence, he’s a good defensive catcher and has shown some juice with the stick this year, too. Still, like a Phil Collins drum solo, you can feel this kid coming every time he touches the field. We all want to see more of him.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Thursday:
Marcus Semien (TEX): 3-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Semien’s struggles prompted Bruce Bochy to hit him ninth last Monday; by then, he was hitting .176 with three homers and a .496 OPS. But he has since gotten some better results, most notably a 4-for-4 performance last Friday. Hitting sixth, he stepped to the plate in the fifth inning and broke a 1-1 tie by sending a letter-high heater from Ryan Pepiot over the wall in left (369 feet, 103.1 EV). His sixth shot of the year came at the expense of a belt-high sweeper from Rays reliever Kevin Kelly in the seventh (365 feet, 100.1 EV). Semien entered the game with a PLV Power+ of 94, six points below average and well-below average Contact Ability+ (89), but at least, he’s climbed over the Mendoza line while making exceptional swing decisions (118 DV+).
Alek Thomas (ARI): 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI.
The Braves held a 10-4 lead in the ninth. Eugenio Suárez waved at a slider from Scott Blewett for the first out. Easy win, right? Wrong! Lourdes Gurriel went yard, Tim Tawa walked, and then Alek Thomas yanked a hanging slider from Blewett deep into the Chop House (403 feet, 105.6 EV); his second homer of the year made it a 10-7 game. The D’Backs batted around, and wouldn’t you know it, the guy who started the inning by striking out, Suárez, completed the improbable comeback by smoking a changeup from Raisel Iglesias down the left-field line for a go-ahead, two-run double. Thomas was a big prospect a couple of seasons ago, but never panned out offensively; he entered the game hitting .253 with a .289 wOBA. Still, the 25-year-old lefty came up aces for the D’Backs during yesterday’s astounding comeback.
Maikel Garcia (KCR): 2-3, 2B, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SB.
Garcia came up huge for the Royals during the nightcap of yesterday’s doubleheader. He opened the action by going against the current on a 95 mph heater out over the plate from Matthew Liberatore for his sixth of the year (349 feet, 100.3 EV). Garcia is probably not turning into a power hitter anytime soon. Nonetheless, he’s just one away from tying last year’s home run total. His 13 steals have him tied with Jarren Duran and Nico Hoerner for 14th. He’s improved phenomenally as a hitter; he entered yesterday’s action hitting .313 with a .368 wOBA, the latter nearly 100 points higher than last year’s mark.
Max Muncy (ATH): 2-5, HR, R, 3 RBI.
Not to be confused with the suddenly resurgent Dodger third baseman, the 22-year-old A’s rookie also named Max Muncy socked his second of the year; he also went yard back on March 28th. The right-hitting middle infielder was hitting .325 with three home runs and a .398 wOBA across 141 plate appearances with Triple-A Las Vegas before being recalled this Wednesday.
Bo Bichette (TOR): 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI.
Bichette blasted a sweeper from Jesús Luzardo and sent it 413 feet to right-center for his eighth of the year; the two-run shot staked the Jays to a 4-0 lead in the fourth. He’s showing above-average Contact Ability+ (114) and Power+ (110), and is hitting .279 with a .328 wOBA. He’s already got twice as many homers as last year in 55 fewer plate appearances, and, yeah, let’s forget everything that happened last year. Good, it’s settled.
Adley Rutschman (BAL): 3-4, HR, R, 2 RBI.
Rutschman entered the afternoon in Seattle, hitting .214 with a .297 wOBA. Still, he at least connected against a great pitcher in Bryan Woo. With the O’s down 3-1 in the sixth, the switch-hitting catcher sent an 0-2 slider from Woo just over the 326-foot sign in the right-field corner (103.5 EV) for a game-tying two-run dinger. He also pocketed a single in his first at-bat against Woo and another single in the eighth while hitting right-handed against lefty reliever Gabe Speier. He’s been worse left-handed this season, hitting .201 with a .290 wOBA compared to .250 and .317, respectively, as a righty.
Brandon Nimmo (NYM): 1-4, HR, R, RBI, BB, SB.
Nimmo’s tenth was a wall-scraper just over the glove of Andy Pages in right-center, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead in the third (391 feet, 101.3 EV). The Wyoming native has been an on-base machine his entire career, and yet, here we are, 58 games in, and he’s sporting an OBP of .296. That’s not the Nimmo we know and love, and that might have something to do with him hitting fourth and fifth a bunch this year; he hit leadoff yesterday with Lindor shelved, but started in the two-hole in six of his previous eight starts. Maybe that will get him going. After pilfering a career-high 15 stolen bases in 2024, Nimmo has just two, both coming in his past two games.
Pete Alonso started the scoring in the second with his 15th of the year. Starling Marte, who hit second as the DH against righty Landon Knack, hit his fourth.
Jonathan India (KCR): 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI.
India started the first game of the doubleheader with a bang, launching a sinker from Miles Mikolas just over the leaping grab of Alec Burleson in left (401 feet, 106.2 EV). His second home run of the season snapped an 11-game extra-base hitless streak. The righty is hitting .248 with a .295 wOBA. He has just two home runs without a stolen base and might be the most boring leadoff man in baseball. Hey, even J.P. Crawford has five home runs and two stolen bases.
Iván Herrera (STL): 2-3, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB.
The hard-hitting righty did this in the matinee. With two down and one aboard in the eighth, he socked a slider from Taylor Clarke for a go-ahead two-run bomb (425 feet, 109.9 EV). Herrera was the Cards’ DH for both games and remains locked into an everyday role, having also started 11 games at catcher. Herrera has shown above-average Power+ (111) with above-average Contact Ability+ (107).
Tyler Soderstrom (ATH): 2-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 6 RBI.
Soderstrom made the game a rout by taking Twins reliever Jorge Alcala deep to left in the fourth, giving the A’s an impervious 11-1 advantage with his first grand slam (363 feet, 98.3 EV). He also took David Festa for a ride to deep-right center an inning earlier (432 feet, 108 EV). Soderstrom’s 12 home runs are backed by an exceptional 119 Power+. However, his breakout has perhaps been stalled by below-average Contact Ability+ (90) and Decision Value+ (88).
Isaac Paredes (HOU): 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.
The former Ray tied the game 1-1 in the fourth by launching a Mitch Keller sweeper high over PNC Park’s left field fence (407 feet, 105.5 EV). His 14th round-tripper came in the ninth on a sinker from lefty reliever Ryan Borucki (383 feet, 104.3 EV). His relocation to Houston has gone off without a hitch, hitting .252 with a .348 wOBA, both up from his career marks of .235 and .333.
Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Aaron Polcare (@abeardoesart on Bluesky and X) and adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter/X; @justinparadis.bsky.social on BlueSky)
